Disposable Diapers

Did you know...
A woman born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1917 by the name Marion Donovan had a hard time getting her invention of the disposable diaper on the market. She made the first diaper cover from an old shower curtain. Her design did not cause diaper rash and did not pinch the child's skin. The soon-to-be famous female inventor subsequently perfected her invention, adding snap fasteners in place of the dangerous safety pins. She called it "Boater" because she thought they looked like a boat. But no manufacturers would even consider her invention, so she struck out on her own, and the Boater was an unqualified success from the day it debuted at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1949. A few years later in 1951 Donovan applied and received a patent. She then promptly sold the rights to Keko Corporation.

Her next project was a fully disposable diaper, for which she had to fashion a special type of paper that was not only strong and absorbent, but also conveyed water away from the baby's skin. She took her finished product to every large manufacturer in the country, but once again she found no takers. Incredulously, everyone she talked to told her that the idea was superfluous and impractical. It was not until nearly a decade later, in 1961, that Victor Mills drew upon Donovan's vision to create the disposable diaper we know as Pampers.

Marion Donovan earned a total of 20 patents in her lifetime and also received an Architecture degree from Yale University in 1958.

I for one am thankful for this famous woman inventor who deserves the undying gratitude of new parents around the globe.